Photo Tour of a Refurbed Room at Disney’s Pop Century Resort

By Dave Shute

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, click here.

Disney’s Pop Century Resort entered a building-by-building room refurb project early in 2017.

As of late January 2018, buildings 7, 8, and 9 (in the 80s and 90s sections) and buildings 6 and 10 in the 70s section are done, and Building 5 in the 60s section is being worked on. The expectation is that refurbs will continue to happen one or two buildings at a time (Pop has ten buildings) in roughly chronological order.

The key positive features of the refurb are the first queen beds in value resort standard rooms, and the first coffee makers in value resort standard rooms. Less universally praised is the bright white color scheme–exacerbated by the loss of the colorful bed stripes, which is happening generally across Disney World resorts–and the fact that one of the queens is a fold down bed that disappears the table and chairs while it is down.

I had the chance to stay in one of these newly-refurbed Pop Century rooms in late July, so here’s a photo tour and my observations.

One side of the room has a thingy with the coffee maker above and the mini-fridge below, the dresser and TV, and a connecting door, if present.

This side of the room from the back.

The coffee thingy has multiple crannies and cubbies, a general feature of this room. Note the folded luggage rack tucked in at the side.

A closer look at the coffee maker.

The drawer in the thingy contains the coffee supplies and is also nicely sized to shove all of your power cords, tablets and such into.

The mini-fridge, as is common in new Disney World rooms, has a glass front so you can see what’s inside without opening it. I’ve propped the door open in this shot.

The dresser has drawers on one side and shelving and a safe on the other, is flanked with two sets of power points each of which can charge four devices, and is topped with a 54-inch TV.

The three drawers are 31 inches by 13 inches but only 4.5 inches tall.

This is still much more storage in these new rooms than in the un-refurbed rooms–their dresser/ mini-fridge and dresser drawers are shown above.

Back to the refurbed room, next to the drawers are shelves and a safe.

I measured the safe as 19 inches by 15 inches by 6.5 inches tall. If your electronics won’t fit in here, you are on the wrong vacation.

By the connecting door you’ll find this coat rack.

In the back of the room are the sinks, closet, and, in a separate space, the toilet and shower.

In a first for value resort standard rooms, the overall bath and dressing area is closed off from the rest of the room with a sliding solid door, rather than the fabric curtain you’ll find in other such rooms.

Here’s the sliding door almost closed.

Note all the crannies and cubbies around the sink.

The small cabinet to the left of the sink…

…has this hair dryer.

On the right side of the sink you’ll find this make-up mirror.

On the side of this space is a solid hanging closet–another first in a standard value resort room. There’s 19 inches of hanging space inside, and another 9 inches on the rod extension to the right.

The toilet and tub are enclosed by this two-part sliding door.

The tub is enclosed with sliding doors–a more straightforward arrangement for most than a billowing shower curtain, but an awkwardness for bathing children.

The shower has both rain fall and hand-held heads.

The toiletries.

Some of these rooms only have showers, no tubs. This photo came to me from alert reader Ann.

Back into the main area, the other side of the room has a table and chairs and a fixed queen bed.

The bed side from the back.

A closer view of the fixed queen…

…and of the art above it. Just with this, these refurbed Pop Century rooms have more Disney theming than any other value resort rooms except the Little Mermaid rooms in Art of Animation…and there’s more to come.

Another new feature of this refurbed Pop Century room is space under the bed for storing your suitcases. There’s 14.5 inches of clearance, which will fit most rolly bags.

There’s a cubbie with power points between the bed and bath wall…

…and another between the bed and table.

The distinctive feature of this room is the fold down bed, found behind this table and chairs.

Stack the chairs in the corner…

…pull the two handles, and the table disappears and this bed replaces it.

Pluto also appears.

I measured the fold-down bed as 59 inches by 79 inches–just an inch short on both dimensions of being a queen, but it’s so much larger than a full (which would be 54″ by 74″) that none can quibble at calling it a queen.

The mattress is a full 12 inches deep–as deep as that of the fixed queen. This bed is entirely appropriate for adults, and in fact adults might prefer it, as they can put the kids in the fixed queen and use the table until they themselves are ready for sleep.

There is yet another cubbie and power point between the fold-down bed and outer wall.

Some shots of the room with both beds down:

And for comparison, a shot of an un-refurbed Pop room with two full beds:

Some have wondered if an air mattress would fit between the table and the door.

I measured the clear space between the full opening of the door and the edge of the table as just about 34 inches. With the bed down, this space will shrink by about a foot, to ~22 inches.

The addition of the queen-sized beds and coffeemaker is a clear win, as is the safe, the shower heads, the sliding solid door to the bath area, and the make-up mirror. The loss of the table when both beds are down is a bit of a pain, but as noted there are a couple of work-arounds–e.g. putting the table users in that bed. While bright white, these rooms have more Disney theming than almost any other value resort rooms, and as most resorts have now lost their bed stripes, white bedding is now the thing at Disney World, not a Pop Century specialty.

And I know I repeat myself, but queen beds and a coffee maker wildly improve the livability of these rooms.

RELATED STUFF

Stephanie, the bed by the bath side is about 5″ longer, which is not a huge change. The bed by the door extends further–probably 7 to 8 inches, but the loss of the table on the TV side frees up space at its foot. Keeping the connecting door open for use will eliminate the traditional space where these items get put, but you could either live without that door or try to fit into the space between the dresser and the mini-fridge.

Staying in Pop in January with my husband and three kids. My daughter will be 1 and sleeping in a pack and play. Is there going to be space for it in the new rooms? I’m curious as to where I’d place it.

I will be checking into POP in mid-December with my husband, my parents (in their 60s), and three children (8, 5, 3) in two connecting rooms. We want to request a room that is closest to the bus stops, lobby, and restaurant to avoid traveling around so much with the grandparents and little children. What section would you recommend?

I’m starting to plan out disney vacation for September 2018! I’m torn between Pop Century and Art of Animation (little mermaid room). Do the newly renovated rooms at pop century put it over Art of Animation in your opinion? It will be me, my husband, and 5 year old daughter. Thanks!

Thank you for all of the details! Do you have any update on how far they are now on the refurb rooms? We are going in December, wondering if I requested a room in the 70s section if I would get a refurbed room? I just want to put in the room request that will get me the best chance of getting one. Wanted to avoid 80s/90s as we loved the 70s last time. I can’t seem to find building numbers on the maps, only sections. Could you point me to one with building numbers if that is the method in which to see what sections are done. Thank you!

Hi Tori, the refurb is done in the 80s and 90s sections–Buildings 7, 8 and 9–and is in process in Building 10, which is one of two buildings in the 70s section. Building 10 should be done by your visit, so do request a 70s section–not guaranteed, and everybody wants a refurbed room, so don’t hold your hopes too high…

The map on this page (click the map to enlarge it) includes room numbers for each building. The first digit of the room number is the building number–except for the rooms that start with 0, which is building 10.

Hi Christin, and thanks!! I’m not sure, but the sink area was tight before the refurb, and the add of structured storage here (instead of just a clothes rod above) makes it even tighter. I would not plan on a pack n play fitting here.

My wife and I are staying at Pop in September 2018, will all the building be done or should we request a building? The reason we ask is we like to stay in building 1 near bowling pool. So if 1 will be done by Sept. that would be great!! Thanks

Hi Dave, I’m a little spatially challenged… when you say 34 inches from the open door to the table, does that mean when the bed is in the upright/table position? Do you happen to know what the measurement would be when the bed is down? Josh referenced this in his review that only the narrowest of air mattresses would fit here. I’m trying to figure out if a 25″ or 30″ wide camp cot or air mattress would fit here (or anywhere in the room) with the innova bed down, any opinion?

Hiya Lisa! I’ve revised the language to make it clearer (I hope) that the measurement is with the bed up. With the bed down, it won’t fit between the bed and and the opened door–and because of the angled door area, I would guess it will not fit even with the door closed, but it may, if slid towards the mini-fridge.

My family and I will be heading to Disney in December this year. We are coming all the way from New Zealand, so it’s a pretty expensive vacation with the airfares being quite high for such a long journey. With that in mind I had already decided based on my research that a value resort was the way to go for us!

Then I stumbled across this while looking into which Value resort was best and I think I am now sold on Pop! The refurbished rooms look wonderful! And my Mickey mad daughter will love the Mickey and Pluto touches to the rooms. And the coffee maker in the room makes this Mama very happy!

However I was wondering whether or not you knew if the refurbishment means the prices will increase?

Hi Toni-Emma, and so glad to have helped! Disney released hotel prices for all of 2018 last summer, and , in my experience, it is very rare for it to change these prices afterwards. So I would not expect a price change for these rooms for a 2018 visit.

Planning POP for October 2018. Getting confused on room request. Definitely want refurb room and was planning to pay for preferred to be close to dining and transportation. But looking at the map, now I’m wondering if preferred would limit my chances of a refurb room. Your suggestions?

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